When Cherry Blossoms Fall
by sama-chan
Summary: Sakura's in a drunk daze as she stumbles through the crowd. Who will catch her when she inevitably falls? Non-Massacre AU. ItaSaku


Hey. It's me, sama-chan. This is my first one-shot, and my first Itachi/Sakura. If you guys want a sequel to this, I might write it. Don't worry... I'm still on board with Shinjitsu no o, so have no fear. I'm proud of this. I had to do a lot of research for the festival part of this. And the first paragraph is from Shinjitsu no o, because I originally had planned for that paragraph to be a part of this one-shot.

[EDIT: I'm sorry about the Japanese, because I used google, and it's definitely wrong.]

I do not own anything.

The cherry blossoms were gone. They only came for a short period of time, but while they were there, they were beautiful and brought out the best in people. It was much like life. Life was ever fleeting, and while you were living, you had to live and bloom to the fullest. For every fallen petal, a memory to replace it, to form ties with the tree, to make room for another season of blooming blossoms. Every connecting branch formed a friendship, connecting even the smallest twig to the heart of the tree's world, the trunk. One minute the world was as simple to describe as a tree, and the next it was as complex and hard to understand as the magic that made the tree know when to bloom and when to let the petals fall. The cycle of life, another rule that governed the existence of the entire world, applied to the tree as well.

Itachi Uchiha contemplated things a lot; he was the heir to a prestigious clan, a prodigy, an ANBU Captain, and an older brother too, so he had to do so. He had no time to dawdle with anything he did, because his metaphorical plate was full, and he still had to get to the dango stand as well. He was the type of man to cut off bonds because: a) Shinobi don't have emotions, therefore, they don't have friends; b) his clan tended to drag people into politics more often than not; and c) Itachi Uchiha was an intimidating man that others saw no need to speak to.

It wasn't as if he didn't have raving fan girls, because let's face it, all Uchiha are born good enough to have fan girls. But they were so selfishly mislead by their own fantasies that his cold facade had become his permanent demeanour... although that was mostly on his clan's behalf. Itachi used to have friends, but they had long disappeared, whether because of the clan's interference or his own cold behaviour, he didn't know. He was insane, he just knew it.

Itachi stared out his window impassively, the bare trees staring back at him in stark contrast to when they had been in full bloom. He breathed a deep sigh, looking down at the futon he was lying on with his normally dull gaze. He hated that he couldn't find enough of a reason to stay in bed for the rest of the day. It was troublesome, as that Nara brat would say. He got to his feet slowly, his lithe body performing the moments necessary to do so with flawless finesse. Long obsidian hair barely reached the ends of his shoulder blades, the thin locks impossibly silky for a male. His face stretched as a yawn escaped his sharply sculpted lips, his aristocratically high cheekbones and perfect nose contorting with the movement. There were tiny flaws in his perfect form; the numerous scars across his body and the lines on either side of his nose that were caused by stress and exhaustion. His eyes were unusually light for an Uchiha. They were most well known for their dark hair and eyes. His were an almost blue-gray, with flecks of black and different shades of gray blended in with it.

He brought up his hand, sweeping the long calloused fingers through his hair with ease—his hair was so impossibly smooth that he was hardly ever caught with a tangle in it. He knew that the Hyuuga produced many ninja with the same hair—it made him vaguely wonder if power meant great hair, or was it caused by it. He dismissed the notion with a snort—rather unfit for a prestigious Uchiha. He forbid his mind to ponder any more about _hair products_, of all things, and gathered the needed materials for a long soak in the private springs behind the Head of the Uchiha clan's mansion—because they were _just that great_.

His place was slightly separated from where his parents lived—and unfortunately for Sasuke, the team seven ninja still lived with them—a condo of sorts that was attached to the house by a single door that he kept closed at all times. Itachi was twenty six years old. He had no desire to live with his parents until they keeled over and he took over the clan. That would have meant having his personal life—or lack thereof—invaded by the elders when they dropped by, and facing the repercussions of everything whenever he returned home. So no, he did not live with his parents anymore.

Itachi padded down the stairs of his big condo, his shinobi skills leaving to noise as each foot met hard wooden flooring. He had a change of clothes, a pack of kunai, and two towels in his arms as he reached the old fashioned sliding-screen door leading to the relatively secretive spring behind his place. He slid it open with ease, slowly walking down the stone path in his bare feet—he could always grab shoes when he was done. His gray eyes flashed crimson, the black markings spinning rapidly as he checked the area thoroughly. When his eyes detected nothing unusual, he continued to where an archway of flowers and such parted the thick canopy of trees into an open clearing that was not-so-very-much-open, considering there was a big hot-water spring covering the area. The steam wound its way around him, and he slipped out of his clothes with grace. Dawn's light was barely peeking through the thick trees, and he relished in the way the water cleansed the taught muscles in his entire body.

He sighed in relief as he slid into the hot water, the liquid coating his body in relaxation.

"Aa..." he murmured to himself, closing his eyes against his better judgement. It would only be too easy to fall asleep in such a relaxing place. He had six and a half hours before he had to report to the Hokage in full ANBU attire, but it was plenty of time. His younger brother had already left to go train with his teammates, the jinchuuriki, the medic-nin, and the copy-nin.

Nothing to do but relax, he concluded.

...

Puffs of air blew dust away from her face as she brought her fist back up from mercilessly pounding the ground, her breathing heavy and laboured. The recent chakra spike faded away as she stopped pumping it into her fist. Fissures in the dry earth were caused by the shinobi, her special strength in exceptional chakra control. When the dust finally cleared, a small woman was revealed, her lithe body in a powerful stance as she prepared herself for whatever was coming at her. Her body was distinctly petite—she could have passed for a small civilian—but defined muscles ran all over her body. Bright harlequin green eyes narrowed in irritation as she scanned the area around her for threats. Seeing none, she let her stance seem to relax, when in reality, she had tensed up further.

Her hair was simply—there was no other way to describe it—pink. It was almost a cross between Nadeshiko pink and light Thulian pink, but it carried an almost electric brightness to it, and a bubble gum sweetness that proved that she was truly one of a kind. She had donned a dark blue spaghetti strapped shirt that had a fishnet back, and slipped on some loose dark green Capri pants. The standard royal blue ninja sandals provided foot protection to the girl. A bun held her silky hair in place—she had grown it out long again after the dreadful exams, and now she kept it just below her collarbone.

Her name, you ask? Haruno Sakura, second only to Tsunade—the Hokage—in medical ninjutsu. They—her teammates and herself—were just about to go head off to the Hokage tower after they finished training, for they had to turn in a report for a recent mission they had gotten back from during last night. Sakura couldn't stand that Tsunade had ordered her off of hospital hours when her team had missions—as much as she loved working with them, and performing missions in general, her love for treating the sick took the gold. She used to hang out with her teammates and friends when she had time off, and sneak in training sessions when she could, but Tsunade had noticed how exhausted the constant working had made her. And so, she only worked weekends, Mondays, and Tuesdays when she didn't have missions. But after they delivered the mission report, they were heading off to the star festival, held every July seventh.

Sakura still had to get ready, and they were supposed to meet the rookie nine at the festival grounds at eight o'clock. They had been training since a little before dawn, and now it was six.

"Hey, Kakashi-sensei, I think we should stop now!" Sakura yelled out, sweat gleaming over her exposed skin. The lazy Copy-nin appeared in a flash, his body slouched over as he peered at her over his Icha-Icha "Paradise" (more like "Porn"). He nodded and Naruto and Sasuke appeared in a flash. They had been sparring separately from Kakashi and Sakura, but Sakura didn't care that much—sure, it hurt that they didn't think she was up to it, but Kakashi wasn't like that at all, so that made it relatively fine.

"Next time... I'll kick your ass, Teme." Naruto growled from where he was standing beside an emotionally constipated Uchiha, who was rather smug at the moment after winning the spar right before Sakura decided that they should stop.

Sakura rolled her eyes in unison with Sasuke as he muttered, "Dobe..."

They strolled together from the torn up training ground (courtesy of Sakura), Sasuke and Naruto glaring at any male that took one look at their obviously good looking honorary sister. She was completely oblivious to how attractive she was to members of the opposite sex—and even the same sex, occasionally. All of her teammates were like brothers to her, with Kakashi like an uncle or father, and they acted extremely overprotective of their little delicate flower (that just happened to beat them up every once in a while).

They reached the tower quickly, nodding to the guards and exchanging words with friends. Sakura smiled widely as she sauntered through the corridors with her family, and they entered the Hokage's "office" just as the esteemed Uchiha Itachi was walking out. His strides were long and graceful, like a jungle cat walking around comfortably because he was at the top of the food chain, looking down at the other creatures without a care in the world except his next meal. Sakura felt her throat compress in a gulp, and mentally cursed at herself for being so afraid. This was Sasuke's older brother, for Kami-sama's sake! She had nothing to fear... except his dangerous skills in everything, and his ruthless personality.

"Aniki..." Sasuke nodded at the man, his raven locks matching his elder brother's in everything but length. Their eyes were different—Itachi's were lighter than Sasuke's coal black ones.

"Hn. Otouto." Itachi replied with as little emotion as humanly possible, aside from a little bit of amusement, but Sakura thought she saw a flicker of something else flash in his eyes. She dismissed it as the lighting and followed her teammates inside.

It proceeded fairly quickly. Tsunade was busy and dismissed them before they could speak much more than a couple words, having somebody grab the report from Kakashi, and saying that was all. Sakura looked at her Shishou in sympathy, but left anyways. She followed her teammates outside, saying a few cheery hellos to the other shinobi that she recognised.

"So, we'll meet back here at half past seven?" Sakura asked cautiously, making sure that she had the time right.

Kakashi shook his head. "No, I'm hanging with some other Jounin tonight, and I've got a few errands to run today. So I won't see you until tomorrow. See ya." Kakashi disappeared in a cloud of smoke without giving them the chance to say goodbye.

"Stupid perverted old man..." Naruto muttered. "But I'm going to go meet up with Hinata-chan first before we head off to the festival. I promised her. So can she come with?"

Sakura rolled her eyes at him as he sheepishly grinned, a blush coating his cheeks. Hinata and Naruto had started dating three and a half years ago, and were now relatively steady in their relationship.

"Of course she can come," Sakura grinned, her eyes lighting up as she teased the blonde. "But only on one condition..." Naruto leaned in as her voice dropped down to an almost conspiracy-tinted tone. "You have to name your first kid after me!" Sakura burst out laughing as his face turned from embarrassed, to outraged, to indignant, to hopeful. "So Sasuke-kun," she carried on after seeing his lips twitch in a smile, "can you come at that time?"

"Aa..." Sasuke replied, and Sakura knew that that was a yes in the complex language that Sasuke spoke.

She grinned and waved goodbye as they parted ways.

Now it was time to get ready.

...

Sakura gaped at Sasuke and Naruto. They were dressed up in their best yukata. Sasuke's being a light plain gray with a dark blue sash, while Naruto's was a dark black with gray pinstripes and a brown sash. Naruto large hand was resting over Hinata's tiny and delicate hand, their fingers intertwined. It made her want to gush over how cute they were, but she held herself back. Hinata had a beautiful aqua blue yukata on, with pink and purple flowers all over, and white swirls and patterns. There was a pink sash at her waist. Her lips were dusted with a light salmon pink gloss, and her eyes were outlined with orange, contrasting with her cotton yukata. Her hair was pinned in an elegant bun, her dark blue hair matching her blue outfit.

Sakura looked down at her own yukata. It was a light yellow, with an orange sash, and red and gold flowery blossoms decorating it. It wasn't nearly as magnificent and elegant as Hinata's, but she was also going to be the next head of the Hyuuga clan too. Her hair was in a curly bun, the edges of her bangs curling out slightly too, with gold and silver flowers in her hair. Her lips were coated with bright red gloss, and light lime green eye shadow brought out her harlequin green eyes. Naruto and Sasuke almost sighed. They'd have to work hard to drive away potential suitors with her looking that good.

"Hinata-chan, you look gorgeous!" Sakura gushed, leaving Hinata to blush and shyly look at Naruto who grinned in encouragement.

Hinata smiled brightly at Sakura, having come out of her shell a lot more in the last couple years. They were all twenty one or turning it very soon... and almost everybody was different since they had become genin. Sakura had abandoned her crush on Sasuke at a very early stage in its development, calling him a jerk and refusing to talk to him until he apologised over calling her annoying. Ino had gotten over Sasuke quickly as well—and was now in a relationship with Shikamaru. So all in all, many had changed since they were genin.

"A-ah, thank you, Sakura-chan. You look beautiful too." She looked down shyly, stealing glances at Naruto who had mostly all eyes for her. He'd look over at them occasionally, but Hinata was his eye candy for the most part.

It was Sakura's turn to blush, chuckling nervously as she denied it.

They walked to their designated meeting spot, the night sky already being lit up by lanterns and stalls. Over in a booth, a man retold the story of the festival to a group of little children, their eyes lighting up with awe as he told them. Sakura smiled warmly, the atmosphere warm and wonderful.

"Come over here, Sakura!" Ino hollered across the noisy street, in a bar with the rest of the rookie nine. Sakura smiled warmly and pushed her way through the crowd.

"You're late." Shino spoke dully.

Sakura glared at him, but went back to smiling as she chatted with Ino about how they looked. She ordered a full bottle of sake, downing the first cup slowly. As they chatted animatedly with the whole group, she slowly drained the whole bottle without realising it. After a while, they decided to explore the streets. They played a bunch of games, including trying to catch goldfish. By the time it was ten o'clock, people had starting migrating to the dance area, dancing with friends or their partners.

Sakura tried to get back to her friends, but being drunk and drowsy from the sake, she couldn't find them. The crowd started pushing her towards the dance floor, and she yelped as she tried to get away. She couldn't use her super strength, because she could hurt civilians, so she got swept away.

Just as she was about to fall over—and get trampled—a hand shot out and grabbed her wrist, pulling her to a taught chest. She felt her face burn as she held onto him, her legs a little weak. Her face was buried in his chest as he kept her steady, and she couldn't help but feel embarrassed about it. She looked up at his face, her mind in a daze, and felt her eyes widen in surprise as none other than Uchiha Itachi stood before her. Sakura was pretty sure her mouth was open, and she was openly gaping, but she couldn't help it. _How could this be happening?_ She almost wailed it out loud, but stopped her mental cursing as Itachi started dancing... with her. Yes, they were in the middle of the dance floor, with the tightly mashed bodies leaving no way to escape, but she hadn't thought that he'd start dancing with her to blend in.

"I-I-I'm so sorry, Uchiha-s-san." Her face burned bright red as she looked down at the ground.

He felt his lips twitch at the amusing girl. She was surpassing the Hokage in medical abilities, she was his younger brother's teammate, she was extremely cute, and she was embarrassed being in close proximity with him. He knew her to be aggressive with people when they were obnoxious or mean, and she was sweet with her friends and patients. So who was she? He definitely was interested about her.

"That's alright, Sukoshi no Koibito." Sakura felt her blush deepen as her called her 'little-lover'. "Just go along with it, Sa-ku-ra." The way he said her name, with a slight lilt, made her breath come a little quicker than before. Her heart started pounding as she moved along with him, despite being drunk, she moved surprisingly well.

He grasped hands with her, moving around with the slightly erratic beat—Sakura winced as she realised that they had stumbled into one of those grinding songs. He grasped only one arm as he spun her around, crossing his arms across her body and leaning his head over her shoulder. She slipped her arms around his neck impulsively, her hips gradually starting to move as his did. Her breathing sped up, and she kept blushing as she heard his start to speed up too. He smirked as he saw her innocence displayed so openly. Other couples were doing the same thing, so they blended in flawlessly. Itachi didn't want to stand out because his clan was after him to go back to the compound for a meeting, but he had wanted to relax for the day and went to the festival instead. He had seen them looking for him already.

As the song died down and the music died away, Itachi let her go, but clamped his hand around her wrist, dragging her away to a secluded spot behind some boxes.

"I am sorry for that, Haruno-san." Itachi smirked as her eyes lighted up with fire.

She took a deep breath.

"_How dare you?_ That was completely humiliating! Yes, thank you for saving me from falling, but dragging me out there to dance was uncalled for, you bas—" Itachi held up his hand, effectively cutting off her yelling before she could get angry enough to try to attack him.

"I really needed to blend in. I am sorry Haruno-san... for doing that to you because the Elders were trying to find me. I apologise."

Sakura felt her eyes soften. Sasuke had problems with them a lot too.

"I guess that's alright—" she started to reply, but he pinned her against the wall, his body leaning against hers and his hands pinning her arms above her head.

His deep voice and breathing made her eyes widen in alarm. His eyes were dark, his face coming closer with every second. She closed her eyes tightly, waiting for the forceful kiss that was to come. She was pleasantly surprised when his lips softly met against her own, a soft and chaste kiss that made her eyes darken beneath her eyelids, and her body scream for more. As he lifted his body away from hers, she opened her eyes, and gave him a look of pure outrage.

"Thank you, Sukoshi no Koibito."

And with that, he was gone, leaving Sakura in a daze with a pounding heart and a lust-filled gaze. Damn it, she couldn't seem to stop thinking about how her first kiss had been with Uchiha Itachi. And now she'd never forget him.

:)

I really want some reviews, people! I hope you liked that. I wish it was longer. Now I'm going to go post this on FF . net so you can read it...


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